What the Future May Hold
by robin'schick
Summary: this story takes place after the season two finale. I know it's really late but it's good.
1. The Beggining

"Aelita?" Jeremy's mid puberty voice echoed through the empty halls of Kadic Academy. He was slowly pacing in a straight line to her room. The hall seemed to have no end, to him, like with every step he took her room got farther away. It was always the same whenever he had horrible news to tell her.

It seemed like she had been getting a lot of unpleasant news lately. It had only been 3 months since Aelita had found out that she like the other four was a human and that Franz Hopper was her father. He had disappeared on Lyoko, what she used to think was her home. She had wondered how something she adored so much could betray her. Whenever she had "sulked" she always went to Lyoko, her "home," but Lyoko wasn't truly her home. Where would she go?

Jeremy had reached Aelita's door, the one thing that separated him from walking right to her and taking her in his arms and kissing her full on the lips. He smiled and wished he could do that then removed the thought from his head by remembering he had to tell her bad news. He knocked. "Aelita" he asked " are you in there?" He knew it was useless to ask. She had been in her room most of the time with Kiwee, Odd's dog.

Kiwee had been very cooperative. He would sit in her lap and fall asleep as she pet him subconsciously, thinking about what would become of the world now that X.A.N.A. was free. Odd had let Kiwee stay with Aelita since she seemed to need him more than he did. Besides if it was anything that got Jim off of his back Odd was all right with it.

Jeremy knocked again. Aelita heard him but did not get up. She didn't want to talk to anyone. No one could even begin to understand what she was going through. None of them had their life stolen away from them by their own father. All their parents supported them and loved them. Aelita had often wondered what it would be like to still have her father with her, to have him still on earth and not on Lyoko.

Jeremy opened the door. He was greeted by the smell of oil paints. Since Aelita had found out she was human she'd been painting a lot. Most of her paintings were dark and gruesome. One big one that was hanging on her wall was of an older man screaming by what looked like a tower on Lyoko but it was dark except for a white aura around the tower. The aura was the only thing that separated the tower from the black background. It had exquisite detail and shading. It looked as if the man was being devirtualized and he wasn't happy about it. It was at that time the darkest of her paintings.

Aelita looked up and saw Jeremy standing in front of her. She hadn't seen him since the day before. During the last three months X.A.N.A. had only attacked once. He was still getting used to his newfound freedom and more important his newfound power. The five of them knew it would only get worse. They knew the stars would fade and smiles would cease to show and eventually the sun would stop shining but not as long as they were still there to stop X.A.N.A. as long as they were there X.A.N.A. would still have to work to gain his evil throne. The five of them would never let him have it willingly. They would always be there to stop him. They each made vows to each other to stop him at all costs. They all knew that they were risking their lives for the good of mankind. They told each other as long as they were fighting X.A.N.A. that death was a chance they had to take. They all knew it was true but still they were all scared to die. Scared for the other four when they weren't around.

The two relationships that were blossoming in the group were falling apart at the seams. Ulrich didn't look at Yumi the same way and he just wasn't the same. He didn't act the same way and he didn't touch her the same way he did before. When their hands touched it wasn't such a spark, it was more like a short circuit. With Jeremy and Aelita it was like there was nothing anymore. It wasn't like anything had started with them but it wasn't like it wasn't there. They seemed to distance themselves from each other. Jeremy was busy with finding Franz Hopper and Aelita was busy sulking and painting. It was like there was nothing there but truly there was.

Aelita hid her face. She knew how much it hurt Jeremy to see her in grief. Jeremy down next to her on the bed and Aelita tried to wipe away her tears. She didn't have time. Jeremy's hand grabbed her wet and slippery chin lightly and pulled it up until her mint chocolate chip eyes met his cerulean eyes.

Aelita noticed he had the nicest shade of baby blue eyes behind his thick glasses. She forgot about her father, she forgot about X.A.N.A., she forgot about everything but who was in front of her right then at that moment. She just stared him straight in his eyes. It seemed she was lost in his deep beautiful blue eyes. It was like she could read his very thoughts and yet she felt lost like she could never get back. She loved that feeling.

He noticed her tears and wiped them away with his pinky finger. He hated to see her any way but happy. He loved her even more when she was happy and at that moment he wanted to hear his favorite sound in the world. He wanted and needed to hear it. Her beautiful and cute and lovely and the best sound she could make, her laugh. It could make the world go round, it could make people love, not hate and most of all it could make him do anything for her. He would kill for her, he would steal for her, he would die for her, he wouldn't deny her anything. He needed and wanted to hear her laugh and smile. he would've done anything to hear her laugh but he knew from the moment that X.A.N.A had escaped from the super computer that her laugh and her smile would be rare, more rare than a black pearl in the desert.

Before X.A.N.A. was free Aelita was happy and optimistic and she laughed all the time. She'd even laughed at Odd's jokes occasionally even though they were more corny than funny. She'd enjoyed every moment of everyday and she cherished it like a great kiss that one never forgets but that had long changed. They had all changed in some way.

Over time Ulrich got quieter and quieter. Then he stopped talking all together. He was usually the tall dark and handsome type. He could get any girl he wanted, even though all he wanted was Yumi. He was still dark and he was never very tall but his handsomeness seemed to fade as if overnight. He used to be approachable but by then no one dared approach him. No one knew what he was thinking for his face was a solemn mask of nothingness. Not even Yumi knew and she knew him best. Their relationship suffered. His smile, like the most rare pearl, could be found as often as a thought in Odd's head, even when something was funny. But by then it was lost to the world. Nothing would ever be funny to the five of them again. That's why Odd gave up being funny.

Odd, surprisingly, changed the most drastically. He cut his hair shorter than Aelita's and dyed it black. No one expected that, it just wasn't Odd. but after his parents were killed by X.A.N.A. right in front of him and his brother he went into grieving, he wasn't himself. He was no longer the hilarious one because humor wouldn't and couldn't ease the pain for their pain went to deep and he was no longer the daredevil because everything he took to help "ease" the pain made him too depressed and lazy to do anything but mope around and think of nothing but X.A.N.A. and the world ending. He was practically useless to the group, all he did was sleep and eat and "experiment" in his room. Yumi was almost the same.

Yumi had just let herself go. She didn't look like she usually did. She didn't care anymore Ulrich wasn't looking at her the same and she didn't care for William the same way. She stopped brushing her hair and doing her homework. Whenever someone asked her anything she would snap at him or her to leave her alone. Her parents thought it was due to love. It wasn't love that was fueling her, it was hate, hate for X.A.N.A, and hate for Ulrich for ignoring her. All she did was wait for the phone to ring, for X.A.N.A to attack. She was throwing her life away more and more everyday. X.A.N.A. had that effect on everyone.

Jeremy didn't change much. He just got more dedicated. Just like when he was trying to devirtualize Aelita. He spent all of his time in his room or at the factory trying to find Franz Hopper. He barely slept and when he did he would wake up every hour to continue. He was always near electronics if he wasn't on his computer in his room he was on his laptop. He lost steam fast but he told no one. He was losing hope too, but he didn't let anyone know. He would try to find Franz Hopper even if it killed him. He would try to find Aelita's father for her.

"Aelita," Jeremy whispered caringly as he looked into her beautiful eyes, "what's wrong?"

" There's no hope Jeremy," she sobbed as she pulled her chin away, "X.A.N.A. has won. He's free and all because he got the keys to Lyoko from me." Aelita'd been kicking herself lately for letting X.A.N.A. "win," as she saw it.

"No, Aelita it wasn't your fault," he said for about the 100th time, but he never got tired of saying it. "X.A.N.A. outsmarted us. There was nothing we could do. He found our one weakness. We wanted so bad to get your fragment to make you whole that we were blinded to what happened, and what could have happened."

"Oh Jeremy" Aelita replied admitting something she'd never told him before " I don't know what to do. No one knows how I feel. None of you will ever know what it's like to have both of your parents ripped cruelly away from you. I feel so alone. I'll never be the same."

" Aelita," Jeremy started as he put his arms around her "you're never alone. We'll always be here for you." He wanted to say "I'll always be here for you" and he wanted to tell her how he felt about her. What he didn't know was she already knew and besides it wasn't the appropriate time. None of them could afford to have feelings getting in the way. He couldn't tell her how he felt until X.A.N.A. was destroyed if X.A.N.A. ever was destroyed. It seemed like there would never be an appropriate time at that moment.

Jeremy remembered why he had come to find Aelita. He needed to tell her bad news about Franz Hopper, about her father. He figured it could wait a least until the next day. After all school was going to start up again soon and Ulrich and Odd would be coming back soon. He figured he would tell them all together, unless Aelita asked, after all he was her father, she had a right to know.

"Is there any news of my father?" Aelita asked slowly. It was like she had read his mind. To Jeremy those seven words were a truth serum, pulling the words out of his mouth with a powerful force more powerful than his resistance. He swallowed hard and got ready to tell her the news.

" Oh Aelita" he started slowly as he hung his head "I've searched everywhere on Lyoko and there's no sign of him." Jeremy explained, " I'm sorry. I've done all I can do, but I'll still try."


	2. The Continuation

Yumi received a text on her cell phone. It was from Ulrich's phone. The five of them were all going to meet at the school where they usually did, on the front steps but Ulrich wanted to meet her alone at the bench in front of the lunch room. She quickly showered and got dressed and combed her hair. It was slightly harder to comb than usual, then she ran for the school. She hoped a month with his parents had gotten Ulrich to talk.

Yumi walked around the school for a few minutes to take away any nervousness she had before actually talking to him. She went over the conversation in her head.

"So…"she would say as she walked up to him, "How are your parents?"

"Fine" he would reply as he stepped closer to her, "they just bought my brothers new cars and I got a new motorcycle that's not even in stores yet for my excellent grades. You wanna go for a ride?" then he would hand her a black helmet with her name painted on the back in swirly letters: Yumi Stern. Then they would ride off into the sunset.

tHAT conversation would never happen for five reasons…1. Ulrich's grades weren't exactly perfect…2. His parents weren't that rich…3. Ulrich's parents would NEVER trust Zane and Troy (Ulrich's older brothers) with a car…4. Ulrich wasn't the type to brag or show off … and 5. Ulrich would never admit his feelings for her.

Yumi felt her phone vibrating in her pocket. Is surprised her and yet it soothed her. She knew it was probably Aelita to tell her something "important" that had happened with Jeremy. She took out her phone and noticed she'd received another text from Ulrich.

WHERE ARE YOU? I'M WAITING ON THE BENCH NEAR THE LUNCH ROOM FOR YOU. I'M BEING BORED TO DEATH BY THE POMPOUS PRINCESS. HURRY UP!

-ULRICH

Yumi smiled. Then she realized she was late to meet Ulrich. She picked up her backpack and ran for the bench near the cafeteria.

When she was about fifteen feet away she heard Sissi interrogating Ulrich. She was saying things like "Ulrich, honey, why won't you talk to me?" and "Ulrich, sweetie, why don't you come to my room later and we'll see if I can't get you to talk".

As Yumi got closer Sissi's lines got dumber and dumber. Yumi wondered why she didn't just slap Sissi silly. It would make her feel a lot better and Ulrich would probably thank her for it. As hard as it was for her, Yumi kept her hands to herself.

By the time Yumi was in touching distance of Ulrich Sissi said, without knowing Yumi was there, "It's Yumi isn't it? I knew she would hurt you. You can't trust girls like that. I keep telling you the Chinese can't be trusted. Remember World War II? They were the reason why those pompous Americans joined in!"

At "you can't trust the Chinese" Yumi stomped her foot and dropped her backpack. Ulrich stood up and turned and she stood staring her worst fear and yet her deepest love in the face.

"Yumi!" Ulrich's voice cracked from not being used in almost three months. " I missed you!" he continued more smoothly. Then he pulled her into a hug over the bench.

In that hug Yumi felt not the short circuit but the spark. She never realized how much she'd missed it. She felt good in his arms. It felt right. She wanted to stay there forever. To never worry about X.A.N.A. again. To never worry about Sissi again. To never need to go to school again. To be sheltered by Ulrich's big strong arms for all time to die in his arms was the way she wanted to go just as long as he was near her she was happy. She wanted to never leave his arms but she knew that X.A.N.A. would eventually attack and that Sissi would probably attack again soon and that she would eventually have to go to school again. She also knew that when she died Ulrich would be there but he wouldn't know how she felt and if he did it would be too late. Both of them knew their days were numbered from the moment that X.A.N.A. was free. They both knew from that a moment that they couldn't and wouldn't be able to tell how they felt for with X.A.N.A. feelings and emotions were the weapons that would stab them in the back. It would be lie stabbing someone in the back with their own swords. They knew that was how X.A.N.A. played.

Sissi let out a sigh of disgust. She sounded like a cat trying to cough up a huge hairball. She jumped off the bench like it was a bomb about to explode and then she started to walk away. Before she rounded the corner of the vending machine building she yelled, in a threatening way "you'll never make it past first base!"

"Yeah?" Yumi shouted back "well neither will you… at least not with my man! Oh and before I forget I'm Japanese!" she added quickly before Sissi disappeared around the corner.

It took Yumi less than one second to realize what she had said. It would have been all right if it was just Ulrich, Sissi and herself but there were people around. There were friends meeting friends and boyfriends meeting girlfriends and people walking to the vending machines to get food and drink and just people just standing around, among them were Milly and Tamiya, the news reporters of the school, and worst of all William. Once Yumi yelled what she yelled it was like every pair of eyes were on her and Ulrich. She couldn't take the pressure.

She broke away from Ulrich's hug all to soon, grabbed her backpack and ran away as far as she could. She needed to talk to someone about what she had done. Aelita… Jeremy… heck she'd even tell Odd (even though he would probably tell Ulrich what she had said anyway, talking to Odd was like talking to a telephone, the person on the other end was the person he wasn't supposed to tell).

She ran for Aelita's room like a crazy person since Aelita was her first choice. She would've rather talked to a girl about her problems than a doubting boy. A girl would understand better than a boy. She knew Aelita probably wouldn't want to talk but on the off chance that she would she went there. If Aelita didn't want to talk she would go to Jeremy and if Jeremy wouldn't want to talk she would go to Odd even though most likely Odd would tell Ulrich.

When she opened the door she saw Aelita and Jeremy on the bed. In the dark reddish light of the dusk it looked like he was shirtless and they were making out. Yumi wondered how Aelita had managed to get his turtleneck off. She also wondered how Jeremy had managed gather enough courage to tell Aelita how he felt. However he had gotten enough courage and however Aelita managed to remove the turtleneck, Yumi decided to leave them to their business.

She figured she would exit the room quietly before they knew she was even there. She knew it was both their first time and she didn't want to ruin it by troubling them with her problems. She realized it was about time too. Everyone knew how everyone else felt. The three of them, Odd, Yumi and Ulrich knew that Jeremy was in love with Aelita, but Aelita didn't know or maybe she did but was just too blind to love to see it. It was the same with Jeremy. Aelita was in love with Jeremy and all the others knew but Jeremy, but there was the possibility that he too could have been blinded by love as well. It was like Ulrich always said " Love plays tricks with your mind" and "Love makes people crazy."

Yumi turned to walk out of the room. The door shut with a tremendous force. It shook the whole room. Aelita's paintings and portraits and everything on her walls bounced up as if pushed by invisible hands, then they fell back into place like they had done a return to the past. Jeremy and Aelita broke apart slowly but not from a kiss. Yumi then realized that Jeremy was not shirtless and that they hadn't been making out but merely hugging.

" Hi Yumi" Jeremy and Aelita said in unison as they broke away.

"Hey" Yumi started, relieved she had interrupted anything totally life altering, but not like making out was life altering. She noticed they were busy talking or whatever so she asked, " Have you two seen Odd?" she didn't really want to talk to Odd but she needed an excuse to leave the room.

"Uhhh" Jeremy started wondering why Yumi was asking them instead of asking Ulrich. " I don't know where he is but Ulrich might. Why don't you ask him?"

" Well because it's kind of about Ulrich" Yumi answered as she twirled her hair between her fingers, " Anyway I didn't really want to talk to Odd anyway. He can't keep a secret."

"Come on we've all known that since like third grade when Sissi asked if her pants made her look fat." Jeremy replied

"What happened?" Aelita asked. She was hooked and she would be asking until they eventually told her.

"Well basically Ulrich whispered to Odd that he thought she looked like a hot dog with her yellow shirt and red pants with her beige overcoat and…" Jeremy explained trying not to burst out laughing. He couldn't keep it in any longer. He doubled over in a deep gut laugh.

"And Odd yelled 'Sissi Ulrich thinks you look like a hot dog'." She laughed a little then continued, "Wasn't that about the time she started to like him?" Yumi asked as she finished for Jeremy.

The three of them laughed for a few minutes then Yumi continued with her problem.

"Actually I wanted to talk to Aelita," she continued as she stopped twirling her hair "alone." She added as she saw Jeremy's face.

" Well Yumi," Aelita replied, defending Jeremy like she was a lawyer in a court case, "he could help us, he could give us Ulrich's view of the event or whatever happened."

"Well we'll call him if we need him." Yumi answered as she pulled Aelita forcefully out into the hall. They walked to the girl's locker room and then Yumi continued "well I went to go meet Ulrich by the bench you know… and Sissi was there and I let something slip that I shouldn't have."

" Well what did you say?" Aelita asked with interest.

"Well Ulrich said my name and hugged me and Sissi stormed off but before she turned the corner she said, "You'll never get to first base!" so I yelled back " yeah, well neither will you… at least not with my man"

"Wow, " Aelita answered trying to keep her composure "I could never say that… at least not in front of Jeremy."

" Oh trust me I didn't think I could either but it just slipped out." Yumi answered truthfully. "Ulrich's not even supposed to know that I feel that way!"

"Well maybe he feels the same way." Aelita started "But let's ask Jeremy what he thinks," she continued. Then they walked back to her room. Jeremy wasn't in her room anymore. She figured he was talking with Ulrich. She had no doubts that Ulrich had called Jeremy because he was confused about what had happened. Yumi started to sit on Aelita's bed and read a magazine. Aelita figured she was alright on her own so she started to walk to Jeremy's room. She checked in his room and they weren't in there so she went to Ulrich's room.

She heard voices outside the door. Before she could go in she ran into Odd.

"Hey Aelita" he started "can you help me with something?"

"Sure" she replied not sure if she really wanted to help Odd. He took her hand and they walked down to the science building.

"What do you need my help with?" she asked

" I need you to help me try out for a play" Odd answered, "I thought you might like to try out with me."

"What play?" Aelita asked

"Well actually" Odd continued, "it's a musical"

"Will you just tell me already?" Aelita snapped tired of playing the guessing game.

"You would be perfect for the part! She's just like you" Odd giggled.

"Who?" Aelita asked, wondering if it really was worth trying out for.

"Christine Daae" Odd answered as he walked a few steps foreword.

"Christine Daae?!" Aelita answered, "She's only my favorite heroine of all time!"

"I know" Odd added, "That's why I chose the play _The Phantom Of The Opera_ But you better hurry up before Sissi gets the part."

"Aren't you coming?" she asked as she walked ahead of him.

They walked to the gymnasium and she waited in line behind all different girls to try out for the role she was destined to play. Finally it was her and Odd's turn. They went up in front of the director and sang their hearts out.

"Well Ms. Stones I think you two have the part" the director started. Aelita could hear Sissi screaming in protest in the seats. She smiled, as she knew she had made Sissi mad for all eternity. She could see a lot of girls crying in their seats for the part that they wanted. "Take this Cd and listen to it your parts are on tracks…" he listed the tracks and handed her a script. "Our first practice is on the first day of school after lunch."

"Thank you" Aelita answered as she waved then walked off of the stage to tell Jeremy the good news.


	3. Finally Getting Somewhere

"Ulrich" Jeremy explained, "You've got to ask her out… before William does."

" Fine" Ulrich started with an idea formulating in his head "I'll ask Yumi out"

"You will?" Jeremy asked " that's great!"

"As soon as you ask Aelita out," Ulrich continued, putting his plan into motion.

"Ulrich you know I can't do that!" Jeremy replied, shocked at Ulrich's motives.

"And just why not?" Ulrich answered knowing that Jeremy was going to ask her before, "You seemed confident before"

"Yeah before X.A.N.A. was free from the super computer." Jeremy replied starting to explain his idea " if I asked her now it would be like saying this to her ' hey our mortal enemy is unleashed and your father could be dead somewhere on the place you used to call home but anyway let's go make out in my room, maybe I won't even call you again'."

"See Jeremy you can do it" Ulrich answered trying to tell Jeremy that he could do it with the right words and a little confidence "that was fine, except you might want to leave the first part out… and the last part possibly."

"Last part of what?" A feminine voice asked. Aelita had just opened the door. She had a smile that stretched from ear to ear. Jeremy could tell she had good news about something for he hadn't seen her smile since X.A.N.A. was free.

"Uhhh…" Ulrich replied trying not to show it in his face.

"Nothing" Jeremy answered as he cleared the thought from his mind " So do you need help with that Chemistry homework?"

"What chemistry homework?" Aelita asked, not catching on.

" You know" Jeremy replied " finding out if compound Y and compound U will stabilize together in the same test tube."

"Oh uh huh" Aelita answered finally catching his drift.

"Well, hey I've got an idea." Ulrich commented catching on too "why don't compounds J and A see if they stabilize together?"

Aelita left the room like she hadn't heard him. She'd gone to her room to tell Yumi the good news and to go get her.

"Hey Ulrich" Jeremy started after Aelita had left "I've got another idea…Shut up!" Then he walked to Aelita's room. She met him outside.

"We have got to get them together" Aelita sighed as she ran her fingers through her hair.

"I know" Jeremy replied as he watched her little movements. "Why don't you take Yumi to the tree and I'll take Ulrich and we'll get them together…alone and then maybe while they talk we could get an ice cream or something." He'd been running his foot over the carpet and watching the puffballs find their way to the surface. He wondered why carpet like that did that, he wondered why he'd never noticed it before but above all he wondered if there was a scientific formula to apply to it. He knew he was blushing he felt his cheeks getting warm, and that's why he had looked at the carpet, but it gave Ulrich the chance to ask Yumi and it gave him the chance to ask Aelita so he wasn't complaining.

He waited patiently for her reply. It seemed like it was forever until he got a reply. He was going to ask his question again when she replied as smoothly as she could without losing her "cool": "well I have to--"she was going to make up an excuse to be alone to sort out her life at that moment or to just be alone to go over her part in her room but then she realized that the chance to go out with Jeremy would probably never come again "you know what…that sounds nice." She continued "How about after dinner? I imagine by then Yumi and Ulrich should be together, in some way or another."

"Alright well let's get them together" Jeremy started as he smiled "Meet me at the tree with Yumi in 10 minutes or less. I don't care how you get her there just do it. I'm gonna go get Ulrich." He seemed somehow happier. He walked away toward Ulrich's room. Aelita watched him as he walked with a new confidence. He looked cooler than he really was. He ran his fingers though his hair trying to be cool. Even though his fingers got caught in the thick mousse. He quickly removed his fingers and hoped Aelita hadn't seen. He was too nervous to look back to see. He knew his hair probably looked funny by then but he didn't care he'd gotten a date with the girl he'd been wanting to ask out since he met her.

She'd seen. She started to laugh but quickly ducked into her room before Jeremy heard her. Yumi was sitting on her bed reading a fashion magazine. She looked up over the magazine to see who or what Aelita had with her. She had that look in her eye like she wanted information. And that if she didn't get it she would interrogate until she got it.

" Jeremy thinks he can get into Ulrich's shoes better if he goes to where it happened" she lied quickly, hoping it would work and that Yumi's piercing glance wouldn't burn a hole right through her.

"Alright" Yumi said normally, "as long as I don't have to repeat what I did before." She picked up the magazine again and started to read again like whatever it was could wait until she was done with that page.

"We've got to go now" Aelita continued with the idea of Jeremy's "before dinner and after it gets dark"

"Why?" Yumi asked curiously. She had that piercing stare again.

"The great Jeremy prefers to feel his surroundings rather than see them." Aelita continued wondering if Yumi really could see right through her. "He works better without his secrets being revealed… so no more questions are going to be answered. Lets go!"

Yumi and Aelita ran for the bench. It was just light enough that Aelita could see Jeremy and Ulrich's faint out lines in the distance. She saw they were talking. Ulrich had his hands in his pocket and Jeremy was waving his hands around in the air. They were both talking in hushed tones. With her intensified hearing she caught parts of the conversation. They were talking about the plan. She watched them then she waited for it to get darker.

Aelita gave an excuse for them to go back to her room to look for something that she needed to get to where they were going. They were walking back to her room to get a flashlight to see in the dark. Aelita made an excuse to stall until it was totally dark.

When it was totally dark they walked back to the bench by the faint light of a small flashlight. When they finally reached the bench Jeremy spoke in a voice quite unlike his own.

"Turn off the flashlight!" Jeremy commanded in a very deep voice, deeper than Aelita imagined he could ever go with his voice. Aelita clicked the flashlight off. "Yumi Ishiyama please walk forward." Yumi walked straight forward toward where she heard the voice. "To your left!" Yumi turned slightly and walked forward. "Now what did you do when you met Ulrich?" Jeremy asked in the deep voice.

"Well I--" Yumi started slowly as she remembered what she did.

"Do not say…Do!" Jeremy interrupted and explained like a prophet. A cute prophet Aelita thought to herself.

"Well where are you?" Yumi asked grasping the darkness around her.

"Walk closer…closer…closer. Now close your eyes and let your heart guide you to my voice." Jeremy answered in the deep voice.

Yumi walked to where she heard Jeremy's deep voice. Suddenly what she thought were Jeremy's arms grabbed her and pulled her closer to him until her chest was against his. It felt different and yet so familiar. It was like it had happened before…so long ago and yet so…so…

"What did you do next?" Jeremy asked in the same deep voice.

"I said…" then she started to run. What seemed to be Jeremy's arms held her from running away like before.

"You now have the chance to re-do time." Jeremy started in the deep voice. "Imagine it is mid-afternoon and you are going to meet Ulrich by the bench near the lunch room. You have just come from your house. Little beads of perspiration appear on your forehead as you see him standing there with his hands in his pockets. He's pacing around in circles, slow steady circles, like he's thinking about something. You walk up slowly contemplating what you're going to say. Finally you walk up and say hello…" Jeremy's voice got farther and farther away. "He pulls you into a hug… it's a nice hug… like a nice spring day."

"Like a nice spring day?!" Aelita whispered loudly "Come on Jeremy! You can do better than that. I mean surely the great Jer--"

"Shush!" Jeremy replied in the deep voice.

"Did you just shush me with the deep voice?" Aelita whispered.

Jeremy ignored her and then he continued in the deep voice, "Now Yumi Open your eyes."

Yumi opened her eyes. A bright light entered her eyes and she squinted to see who was holding her. She saw a shadowed figure with messy hair and who was shorter than she was by about a head. She saw the rough outline of the person's hair. She smelt expensive cologne and the cheap conditioner. It was so strong she could taste it. She could hear the person breathing slow and steady. She felt that she needed to match the person's breathing. She also felt the person's strong arms. It was then she knew it wasn't Jeremy. Jeremy never fought on Lyoko or fought at all so he had never had strong arms. The persons arms were so strong that she knew of she fought his grip she would not be able to break free. She had figured out it wasn't Odd before. If it were Odd his hair would block the light that was shining in her eyes and blinding her. If it wasn't Odd and it wasn't Jeremy it could only be two people. 1. It could be William Dunbar or 2. It could be Ulrich, her sweet Ulrich. From there it was only one possible answer. It wasn't William. He was the same height as she was.

When her eyes adjusted she saw it was Ulrich, her sweet Ulrich. She felt good in his arms. She felt the spark again. She wanted to stay there together with him forever. She never knew he could show more emotion than a rock. They were just staring at each other when Ulrich suddenly moved closer to her. She didn't think he could get closer. She got the message and moved closer to him subconsciously. She blinked and the next thing she knew she was being kissed lightly by her best friend of their group. It wasn't a rough kiss like she'd expected but it was gentle. Like Ulrich, it seemed rough on the outside but once you got to the heart of it, it was pure and gentle. They just seemed to kiss for what seemed like hours. It seemed like the sun had risen and set again while they were kissing.

Yumi forgot about William, she forgot about William and what he'd seen, she forgot about her parents and everything but her sweet Ulrich.

" You can just make out hey make out… no pun intended… the check to J and A love making… hey love making…ha ha I'm so funny…Ow! Hey that hurt!"

"Just get on with it" Aelita replied, she'd hit him in the chest hard. "Before you kill them with your bad puns. You're not Odd you know!"

"Anyway" Jeremy continued, "Like I was saying this time is on the house but if our services are needed again it's like ten euros alright?"

Ulrich and Yumi didn't respond. They were still kissing like Aelita had seen in all the romantic movies she loved to watch.

"Well ok then, we'll just go" Jeremy concluded as he and Aelita walked toward the gate. " So" he asked "do you still want to go for that ice cream?"

"Well it's kind of chilly" Aelita started a she rubbed her shoulders to get warmer as she had not brought a jacket "so let's go tomorrow."

"I've got a better idea" Jeremy answered, "how about we go for coffee? It's a bit more of a walk but it's good"

"Make that hot chocolate and you've got a deal" Aelita replied as she looked at him with adoration "let me just go get my jacket."

"Love birds of a feather" Jeremy coughed to remind her of Ulrich and Yumi. He knew that Ulrich and Yumi would head to the closest place to make out and that just happened to be Aelita's room.

" You're right, it's not that cold." She answered as she got his drift. "Why do they always have to use my room?"

"It's closest I guess," Jeremy answered nervously as if he didn't want to talk about the subject so soon, " I mean would you rather walk up two flights of stairs or would you rather go to the closest place?"

They were both quiet for a while. They were thinking, one about computer programming and electronics and the other about romance and what it would be like to kiss the way Yumi and Ulrich did, like in the movies. The way it looked like they were sharing a bond of eternal friendship and the way that their lips touched. Suddenly a thought entered her head and she vocalized it as soon as the thought entered her brain.

"Jeremy?" Aelita asked, totally naïve to his feelings for her, "When you get a girlfriend will you use my room?" She asked short and simple.

"Well only if she'll let me" Jeremy answered plainly as he looked at the girl he wanted to ask to be his girlfriend "and besides do you think I want me delicate equipment subjected to that senseless activity?" he quickly covered as to not be too mushy sounding.

"Uh…" Aelita answered, she couldn't think of anything else to say. She changed the subject quickly. "So are you going to the back to school dance on the 9th?" she asked.

"Are you kidding?" he asked back in a slight laugh, "you know I can't and don't want to dance and besides those things are stupid. You go and you dance for a few hours then go back to your room. I think they are just a waste of time."

They'd reached the coffee shop by then. They walked in and ordered their drinks then sat down at a table near the door and talked.

"Well" Jeremy started after they'd gotten their drinks "Are you ready for school to start again tomorrow?"

"I think I am" Aelita answered slowly as she sipped a drink of hot chocolate "but…" her phone suddenly rang. It was a jazzy ringer that she had changed it to a few weeks ago. "Hello?" she replied "Oh hey Odd…yeah we're responsible for that. What?" she yelled. "Alright fine… I'll just take his bed then…yeah sure no problem. Bye." She hung up the phone then she said "that was Odd… he wanted to know why Ulrich and Yumi were in his bed. He asked me if he could use my bed. I said yes. So apparently I'm sleeping in Ulrich's bed tonight."

"What about Yumi?" Jeremy asked like he suddenly remembered something.

"She's with Ulrich" Aelita answered as she put her phone in her pocket. "Did you forget already?"

"No I mean what about her parents?" Jeremy replied thinking about her parents and what they would think if Yumi did not come home.

"Well they think she's in love so I guess it's fine" Aelita replied thinking the same thing.

" Have you ever met her father?" Jeremy asked thinking about what her father would do to Ulrich if he found out.

"No why?" Aelita replied wondering what he was thinking.

" You have to call him and tell him that you two were studying and that she fell asleep or something." Jeremy started after he'd made his decision "He will slaughter Ulrich if he finds out about this."

" You seem to know him pretty well, why don't you call him?' Aelita asked wondering why she always had to do the dirty work for the other four.

" Just call him and I'll do anything." Jeremy answered desperately, about to go to his knees.

"Anything huh?" Aelita replied as she set her head on her hand. She smiled a genuine smile that came straight from her heart. She had an idea.

"Sure anything…" Jeremy answered regretting he'd said anything, "as long as you don't plan to get me killed…or beaten in anyway shape or form."

"I'll call him if you go to Lyoko with me every other mission." Aelita decided in a final like way.

"But…" Jeremy objected as soon as he heard Lyoko issue from her mouth "I-"

"You did say anything." Aelita replied, she loved to see Jeremy about to grovel for her to do something "Unless you want me to not call Yumi's dad and let him find out the hard way." She took the straw out of her hot chocolate and licked off the froth.

"I'll do your laundry for a week" Jeremy pleaded, about to go to his knees for the second time in 5 minutes. Doing her laundry would actually be fun for him.

"Um… no." she replied. She was thinking the same thing. Jeremy doing her laundry would be fun for him.

"I'll Uh… I'll do your homework for 2 weeks." He pleaded, thinking it would be easy because of all the same classes they were taking together.

"No." Aelita answered, she'd finally figured out what she wanted him to do. "You're going to the dance with me… as my date. You will wear a shirt and tie and you will pretend to enjoy yourself. We will dance at least twice and then you will walk me to my room. Any Questions?" she finished in a final like way.

"Uh…" Jeremy started wondering if he could kiss her at the dance of not sooner "yeah…what time do you want me to pick you up?"

Aelita couldn't believe he had actually agreed. It caught her off guard. "Um… Let's see the dance starts at 7:00 so how about 6:45?" she answered as she put the straw back into the cup of steaming hot chocolate.

"Alright." he replied with an unchanged face. "Is that all?"

"Just one more thing" she started as she stirred her drink to make sure there were no lumps in the finely ground powder.

'Oh Great' Jeremy thought glumly as he looked into his half empty cup 'she wants more. I wonder what it is now?'

"What's Yumi's home number?" She asked as she smiled another genuine smile.

"It's in her phone" Jeremy started relieved there wasn't anything more. "which is at school… so let's go."

They took what was left of their coffee with them to keep them warm as they walked. They reached the school about fifteen minutes later.

They put their ears to the door and listened. They heard nothing so they walked into the room and to their surprise and relief it was empty.

"Where do you think they are?" Aelita asked wondering if Ulrich had walked Yumi home.

" I dunno." Jeremy assumed with a sigh "maybe they did walk up the stairs."

Suddenly Jeremy's phone rang. It was the same ring as the default ringer. He'd never had time to change it, with an evil virus trying to take over the world and eight hours of school and working in the factory on the supercomputer non-stop to find Franz Hopper, who would have time?


	4. Before the Future

"Hello?" Jeremy answered as if he wasn't sure if he wanted to answer it "oh hi Ulrich, Oh alright sure I'll tell Odd, uh huh, ok sure. So that's where you are. Hey let me ask you a question. Are you going to the back to school dance? You are… with Yumi? So am I apparently… with Aelita."

"So you finally asked her?" Ulrich replied with a smile.

"Well no." Jeremy admitted slowly "See we thought Yumi was going to spend the night, so to speak, so I asked Aelita if she would call Yumi's dad and tell him she fell asleep studying or something. I said I would do anything."

"You shouldn't have said that" Ulrich replied thinking back to a dark time… kindergarten, "You're just lucky it wasn't worse. One time I said I would do anything to a girl and she made me go to school in a pink bunny suit for two days. With the carrot and the big fuzzy tail. It was horrible."

"Well I guess I did get off easy" Jeremy commented as he realized going to the dance wasn't that bad, at least he didn't have to wear a bunny suit "All she's making me do is go to the dance with her."

"And don't forget you're going to Lyoko with me every other mission." Aelita answered trying to get him to say he would while he wasn't paying attention.

"Jeremy you're going with us to Lyoko?" Ulrich asked as he questioned what he had heard over the phone.

"That wasn't part of the deal!" Jeremy answered in shock wondering if his ears were deceiving him. "You just said that I had to take you to the dance."

"Well I changed my mind." Aelita added as she smiled an intimidating smile.

"I'm not going to Lyoko and I don't even want to take you to the stupid dance!" Jeremy yelled angrily as he squeezed the phone in his hand as it curled into a fist.

"Um, Jeremy may I remind you" Ulrich started unsure of what Jeremy could do if he was angry enough "…FUZZY BUNNY!"

"Good Point" Jeremy continued thinking rationally since he heard that he was going to Lyoko every other mission, "Aelita let's make a compromise… do you know what that is?"

"Of course" Aelita answered smiling slightly as she looked him in the eye "Sure why not?"

"Alright" Jeremy started nervously "I'll go to the dance with you and I'll go to Lyoko with you if you…if you… if you--"

"Get on with it!" Ulrich shouted over the phone. He had heard their conversation and he had a feeling he knew what Jeremy was going to ask.

"…If you and I can be more than friends". Jeremy ended quickly. He'd said it so quickly that Aelita had a hard time understanding at first. Or maybe she was just caught off guard. Then she smiled.

He'd started to hyperventilate while she was trying to understand. She tried to help him the best she could.

"When you say more than friends you mean like boyfriend and girlfriend or do you mean like brother and sister?" Aelita wondered after Jeremy was sort of alright, hoping it was the first one.

Suddenly there was an electric shock from an outlet. It turned into black smoke and found it's way to Jeremy's ear. Aelita looked out the window for two seconds she'd heard a bird singing and wondered what species it was. The next thing she knew Jeremy was on the ground fizzling like a badly made hologram. At first she thought he'd passed out from nervousness until she saw how he was moving. He had a strange aura around him. It wasn't a light aura it was a dark aura of black. It seemed like a shadow but it was larger than a shadow and darker too.

"Jeremy?" Aelita asked as she shook him, she was on the verge of tears, "Jeremy… this isn't funny!" she moaned as she took the phone out of his hand. "Hello?" she asked "Ulrich?" all she heard was static. She took the phone away from her ear and noticed that it was electrocuted too. The display and lighting didn't work.

Jeremy suddenly sat up like normal. He rubbed his head and stood up. He growled as if he was tiger that hadn't eaten in a week.

"Jeremy!" Aelita yelled as she hugged him, "you're Ok! What happened?" she noticed his grip on her was getting tighter. She liked it at first but then she knew something was wrong. She knew something was wrong when she felt something hot on her sweater.

"Aelita…" Jeremy said but in a scratchy deep voice, not like the deep voice he had used before but a different voice. Aelita realized something wasn't right as soon as he started to speak. She pulled away from his hug and from the heat that was on her back. When she pulled away she saw the same strange look in his eye that she'd seen so many times before.

"X.A.N.A." she told herself as she realized the warmth on her back was his electrically charged hand. Then she thought out loud, "I need to find Ulrich and Yumi and Odd."

She ran out the door and Jeremy followed like a cute puppy dog, a cute puppy dog that wanted her dead. He was coming up behind her fast. Usually she could always beat him in a long distance race and usually he even let her win. But when anything was possessed by X.A.N.A. it could do anything. Super strength, super mind powers, basically super powers to some extent. It wasn't like you could fly or shoot webs from your wrists but you could do some things you couldn't do before.

He suddenly caught up with her. He grabbed her around the waist and brought her to the ground. Her face went straight into the blue carpet that Jeremy was staring at a few hours before.

"Jeremy" Aelita told herself since Jeremy probably wasn't listening "I've always wanted you to hold me but this is ridiculous." She tried to wriggle herself loose but to no avail.

"Hey kids" Jim started. He'd seen them. "Try and keep that in the bedroom. There are some younger students here too. If I see that again you will both be expelled I'm not expelling you now because you're reasonably good kids. But one more time and…"

"Yes sir" they both replied as Aelita blushed and before Jim could finish his sentence. They both knew he would ramble on forever and ever.

"And Jeremy get something for that cold… you wouldn't want to give that to your girlfriend there. That would "suck" as you kids say." Jim added, he too had noticed the difference in Jeremy's voice.

"Yes Sir" the possessed Jeremy answered as he sounded fed up with the 40 or so year old gym teacher. Jim was right Jeremy possessed sounded like he had a cold.

"Now!" Jim yelled as he pointed to the door. He didn't care that they weren't supposed to be outside after dark but he would rather have them outside to cool off then in their rooms turning up the heat. They both got up and ran outside before they could get in trouble again. "I don't want to see that behavior ever again in these halls, you hear?"

"Yes sir" they replied as they opened the door and ran out quickly.

Once they were outside Aelita started to run away from Jeremy again. She didn't care that her eyes weren't adjusted to the darkness; she just wanted to get away from the Jeremy that wouldn't hesitate to kill her. She fell over on of the benches but picked herself up before Jeremy could catch up. She could barely breath the bench had hit her in the rib and it had knocked the breath out of her but she still kept running.

Jeremy tackled Aelita again. Her face went straight into the dirt. She'd always wondered how Yumi felt when Ulrich chased after her and she'd always wondered what dirt smelt like. His electrically charged hand went to the back of her neck slowly. She hoped it wouldn't hurt too much. She just kept wishing that it would just be over. With every second she imagined the pain grow more intense. Finally as his hand closed in she closed her eyes and imagined how it would make her feel if it didn't make her faint right away. She blinked and the next thing she knew the circuit connected. She let out a small scream, like a kicked Chihuahua and then it connected the circuit and Aelita passed out. She saw blackness… then an intensely bright white light that swallowed her body into it.

Jeremy had picked her up and took her to the factory. He virtualized her then he sent the monsters. At his command they would attack her without remorse. They too would not hesitate to kill her.

"Even now that I'm free I'm going to kill you just for fun. So you can't deactivate the towers if I still use them sometimes." The possessed Jeremy started as soon as she opened her eyes to see the virtual mountains in the distance and all around her.

"Why are you explaining this to me?" she asked as she rubbed her head to relieve the throbbing pain that still remained.

"So I can kill you without you revolting." X.A.N.A in Jeremy's body replied, there was still a hint of Jeremy's voice. Aelita felt the tears start to leak down her face even though she was a virtual being and she couldn't cry, but she knew if she could the tears would be there.

"What?" Aelita replied trying to show that she wasn't afraid even though she was more scared than she had ever been in her entire life "X.A.N.A you're doing a pretty poor job of disposing of me." She added to make it sound as though she wasn't scared at all.

"That's what you think, sexy," Jeremy said in his own voice just to taunt her. Then in his possessed voice "Look There "princess"" he started mockingly, "Tarantulas and where are your friends? Oh silly me, not here!" then he laughed evilly, and then he coughed evilly after that.

"Oh no" Aelita thought as she wiped away the tears that weren't there "I'm done for… If only I could remember what Ulrich and Yumi taught me over the summer!"

Suddenly a tarantula shot multiple times. It hit her in the stomach twice. And in the leg three times when she tried to run after it hit her the first two times.

"20 life points per hit." Jeremy possessed by X.A.N.A. mocked. "20 x 5 is… Oh My! That's too bad! 100!" he laughed evilly once more. "Goodbye Princess!"

Aelita felt her legs disappearing. "Noooooo!" she yelled there was nothing she could do about it. She was dying. "Well" she thought, giving up "at least it's not a painful death"

"Hold on Aelita!" she heard Ulrich yell. Then she heard him yell just like Jeremy, "Return To The Past Now!"


	5. The Future

Suddenly Aelita felt her face hit the dirt. She figured Jeremy was tackling her again and that Ulrich hadn't gone back far enough into the past. She'd hit the dirt and yet she didn't feel his arms around her waist as she did before. She wondered did Jeremy give up? Was Jeremy not possessed by X.A.N.A. anymore? Was he even behind her somewhere?

"Jeremy?" Aelita called as she stood up and dusted herself off. She instantly knew she wasn't anywhere near Kadic academy, or the Factory; at least it didn't feel like it.

"Where are we?" she heard Odd ask from behind her somewhere. "This doesn't look like Kadic Academy!"

"It doesn't smell like Kadic either!" Yumi added as she covered her nose and fanned the air in front of her.

"Look over there" Ulrich started as he looked at something tacked to the crumbling brick wall in front of them "what is that?"

"It looks like an old poster for our band, the Pop Rock Progressive." Odd replied as he smiled "I see the music is still popular!"

They all walked over to it. Ulrich wiped away the mud and grime. Then he read out loud "Wanted for Murder: Ulrich Stern, Yumi Ishiyama, Odd Della Robbia, Jeremy Belpois and especially Aelita Stones (extra for the pink haired one). Extra if they're alive. 5,000,000,000 euros if brought to your supreme ruler X.A.N.A."

"Where are we?" Odd asked as he looked around again "some weird alternate universe…X.A.N.A's done it before."

"For some reason I don't think this is an alternate universe." Aelita replied as she kicked a small rock that was in front of her foot, " I think this is the future."

"And where is Jeremy?" Odd continued not considering what a fragile state she was in.

" I don't know" Aelita started then she realized what had happened if they were indeed in the future. She instantly broke down crying. "Jeremy's not here because he was possessed by X.A.N.A and he was disposed of when X.A.N.A. had no more use for him." She sobbed loudly and incoherently. "He died because I didn't save him. All because I couldn't do my job. I couldn't save the world from X.A.N.A.."

"It's not your fault." Ulrich started as he went over to comfort her. "It's mine. I entered in the wrong sequence. It's my fault he's dead… no wonder they want us for murder."

"Um," Yumi started "don't forget we're wanted for murder, I don't even want to think what they'll do to us in the future." She shivered slightly as she thought of what might happen.

"We should hide then," Odd answered as he bent down to tie his left shoe.

"You there!" a guard yelled suddenly, they all jumped up and realized what they had to do "show us your papers!"

"Run!" Odd yelled so all of them could hear. He made sure all of them had started to run before he followed. "So much for tying my shoe," he thought as he followed slower than usual, as his shoe was about to come off.

They ran as fast as they could away from the guard. Ulrich was first then Yumi then Odd then Aelita. Aelita may have been able to beat Jeremy but then again so could a snail. Compared to the other four she was way behind.

"Hurry up Aelita!" Odd yelled as he turned around to face her "you can make it up to Jeremy if you run. If we escape we might be able to get back and save Jeremy."

"I can't run anymore!" Aelita gasped as she leaned over on a handrail to catch her breath "I'm going to fail Jeremy." Tears fell down her cheeks and fell behind her as she started to run again at a high velocity.

They ran across a street and Aelita tripped on a cobblestone that was sticking up past the others. She fell on her stomach. A car drove past and almost ran over her. She let out a loud scream. Suddenly a hand grabbed her and pulled her into a car with a high force. She'd closed her eyes when the car passed and the next thing she knew she was somewhere she'd never been before. She wondered where she was. It smelt strangely like cinnamon and she felt leather under where she sat. She looked around and noticed in the dim light of the streetlights that she was sitting next to a man who was a lot older than she was. She decided that wherever she was she was ready to fight tooth and nail to get back to her friends. No matter what the cost she needed to get back to them to save Jeremy.

When the car passed the others looked back. Aelita was nowhere in sight. They all instantly wondered if she was run over. They looked back and only saw the remains of some sort of animal that looked like it had been there for weeks before they had arrived.

"Where did she go?" Odd asked as he wondered what had happened to her if she wasn't on the road "she couldn't have been caught by big, gruesome and ugly could she?"

"Just keep running we don't have time." Ulrich replied only thinking about one thing and one thing only, their safety.

"Ulrich how can you say that?" Yumi asked appalled at her friend for being so careless of their friend who was most essential to them like she meant nothing at all.

"Aelita can take care of herself." Ulrich explained his reasoning as he looked around for the guard. "We'll look for her later." Then he started to push her ahead of him.

"Ulrich!" Yumi yelled as she pulled him to face her for him to look her straight in the eye and see her pain. "She could be dead by then."

"Would you rather be dead?" Ulrich asked shouting a little. He couldn't stop himself. He was trying to think of her safety and she was spitting it back in his face like she wanted to get caught.

"You two can have your little dispute later." Odd answered for her before she could as he noticed the guard catching up. "We've got company."

They looked behind them and continued to run at full speed to escape imprisonment in that strange new world.

Aelita just stared at the man who had pulled her into his car. He looked so familiar and yet so different. He had blondish brownish hair and a slight beard starting. She wondered whom he was and why he gave up part of the time of his 24-hour day to save her. Then a thought came to her head what if he'd seen the posters and was turning her in?

The look on her face must have changed because the man looked straight at her and said "Don't worry, I'm not turning you in. That's the last thing I would ever do. That's the last thing we need."

Aelita noticed his eyes were blue. She knew who he reminded her of, the little lost soul of a 12-year-old boy who was lost to the world.

"Excuse me," she asked as she wiped away the few tears that lingered with her sleeve. "But who are you?"

Traffic was to a dead stop on the freeway. He turned away to look at the road then he faced her again. She saw his deep blue eyes once more.

"Wow," he said, as he looked straight into her eyes. She felt that they had met before, but she didn't know any 30 year-old men. "I never thought I would see you again. I thought it was all my fault!"

"What?" she asked with curiosity, "What was all your fault?"

"Your death, Aelita" He replied as a single tear fell out of his sapphire blue eyes and down his cheek.

Aelita blinked and saw Jeremy as she remembered him, a short boy with blonde hair and sky blue eyes covered by thick glasses with a blue turtleneck on. That was who the man reminded her of, Jeremy, only older and more mature.

"How did you know my name?" she asked fearfully as a tear slid subconsciously down her face.

"You don't recognize me do you?" the man asked, "Well of course you wouldn't with the contacts and the muscles and well the years."

"Is it Nicolas?" Aelita asked nervously thinking of everyone she knew with blondish brownish hair and blue eyes.

"Nicolas died years ago," he answered "and if he was alive he wouldn't have the brains to remember you, even though you did kiss him that one time."

" I didn't kiss Nicolas!" She answered while she wondered how the man knew that, "It was my polymorphic clone. "It can't be Hervé can it?" She asked

"No, he was one of the ones who joined with X.A.N.A. right from the start. We always said he had no spine."

" I'm sorry" Aelita answered racking her brain for the answer to who the man was "but I don't know who you are. I never thought I could forget anything so quickly."

"Well—Quick get down! The guards are looking for you. They've been searching since well for a long time."

Aelita crouched down between the seat and the dashboard. The man threw a blanket over her. Then he rolled down the window.

Aelita heard an "officer" questioning the man she'd been driving with.

"License and registration please" the guard said.

"Yes sir" the man replied as he reached into the glove compartment for the registration. The glove compartment hit Aelita in the back as the man searched through the glove compartment for his license and registration. The glove compartment closed and after a few seconds the "officer" spoke again.

"What's under the blanket Mr. Andrews?" the guard asked.

"Well… uh… my grandmother's dirty laundry." The man lied "It stinks horribly so I have the blanket over it."

"Well you be sure to get that washed then" the "officer" answered "or you will be in court over a class D felony."

"Yes sir" the Man replied.

"You may go then" the "officer" replied faking to be caring.

The man rolled up the window and then he drove a few more miles. Once they were clear of the roadblock he removed the blanket.

"Eww gross that thing smells like feet!" Aelita sighed as she rolled down the window to get fresh air. The breeze from outside whipped in and out of her hair. It reminded her of being virtualized on Lyoko. Her hair whipped up like that in the scanner.

"Well it was better than lying in you own feces." The man answered.

"Good point" she replied wondering if it really was better than smelling dirty feet. "Are you sure I know you?"

"Yeah we went to Kadic Academy together and we had Mrs. Hertz fourth period and Mrs. Mayer second and we met everyday by the tree at lunch. And we all hated Sissi Delmas, the principal's daughter. She was always mucking in our business and she always was following Ulrich like an eager puppy dog."

"Are you sure?" she asked, "because I just was at Kadic and you seem a little old to be in middle school."

"Oh it was a long time ago" the man answered "heck I only recognized you because of your hair."

"It's Ricardo the exchange student from Spain isn't it? Your French has gotten very good".

"No, it's not Ricardo!" the man answered, "I was sure you would remember me but maybe it's not even you. Who knows maybe the secret police will come to my door in the night and arrest me. But if so I've failed and I'm useless I tell you."


	6. Life in The Future

"I'm useless I tell you" Jeremy told Aelita when he was trying to devirtualize her almost a year ago or it would have been almost a year ago if Aelita was back at Kadic Academy.

"Jeremy I'm not so sure I think I might want a useless friend." She'd replied.

'It's not possible' she thought to herself 'he died! X.A.N.A. killed him years ago, well about 20 minutes ago.'

"Where are we going?" she asked, "We wouldn't happen to be going to the factory would we, Einstein?" she added slyly hoping he would notice.

"What did you call me?" he asked, he'd understood.

"Don't you remember your nickname?" she asked "or did you forget that too?"

"No one's called me that since the four of you disappeared mysteriously." He replied wiping another tear from his eye.

"And I specifically remember your last name being Belpois not Andrews, why did you change your last name?" Aelita asked as she sat back in the seat of the car.

"It wasn't only my last name but my first name as well… it's not Jeremy anymore its Logan Andrews." He answered as he looked at her again.

"What?" she asked, "Why do you keep looking at me that way?"

"It's just I haven't seen you in about twenty years". He replied. " You can never forget your first love"

"Wow." Aelita answered as she blushed a dark blood red. Then she changed the subject. "So do you want me to call you Logan now?"

"Only in public." Jeremy replied as he smiled, "When it's just you and me, I would prefer that you called me Jeremy."

"I never thought I would see you again." Aelita answered regretting that she hadn't recognized him before.

"Me neither" he replied as he rubbed his neck nervously "I thought I'd killed you". He continued, "I felt so bad that I had deceived you like that. I promised myself I would protect you…not kill you."

"Excuse me for asking this" Aelita started "but why aren't you dead?"

"Well after X.A.N.A. thought you were dead he used my body as his new body for about two days. He used my body until I started to fight him for control. He finally gave up and once he left my body and I realized you were dead…"

"Why haven't you tried to stop him before?" Aelita asked wondering why the smartest boy she'd ever known was acting so weird.

"After you disappeared I stayed at Kadic for a few days but by then I couldn't take it anymore. X.A.N.A. attacked almost everyday and without you all to deactivate the towers I couldn't do anything. I felt useless." Jeremy admitted. "So I left and went to the school that my father was pressuring me to go to for the past two years. With out you there it just didn't seem right. I didn't seem so smart anymore or maybe it was just that I didn't care anymore but I dropped out after about a week."

"That doesn't sound like you" Aelita answered wondering if the power of love was really that strong.

"I know but without any of you I just couldn't face the world." Jeremy answered. Then he told her a story he'd told no one else. Not even Yumi. "Before Ulrich I didn't have any friends. No one would give the little blonde boy a chance, no one except the little silent boy who never said anything to anyone. They made the most unlikely couple of friends."

"Well you could have stopped him before." Aelita told him, wondering why he hadn't figured out another way to stop the plague that had haunted their lives for two years "You didn't need me. All I did was deactivate towers, which now won't do any good since X.A.N.A. doesn't need them anymore."

"No I couldn't" he replied to her inquiry.

"Why not?" she asked not trying to be a smart aleck, "you're not only smart, you're practical. If anyone could stop him it's you."

"You don't understand!" he answered, in a loud voice that made Aelita cower in fear. "I never went back after I left the school for geniuses. I never graduated middle school."

"Oh" she replied sorry she'd asked, "I'm sorry, I didn't know. Well I'm here now. We'll put an end to this…I promise. Then we can go back in time and you can graduate from middle school, high school even! The sky's the limit!" she continued throwing her hands up in the air.

"Thank you" he answered thanking god that she was still her old self. "I hoped you would help."

"Ulrich" Yumi asked after a while, "Where are we?"

"Ask Odd" Ulrich replied unamused as he stuck his pinky in his ear and fished around. "It was his fault we took the short cut."

"Hey you said we needed to get away from the guards so I got us away from the guards." Odd answered, seriously for the first time in his life. He didn't like the feeling of being serious. He didn't understand how Ulrich and the others did it.

They'd been walking for what seemed like hours. They were in what seemed like the sewers, well at least it smelled like it, but they were on a street. They felt unwelcome. All eyes that were on them were burning with hate or jealousy, hate most likely for disturbing the peaceful neighborhood and jealousy for looking so nice when all the people on the street had were rags.

"Ulrich" Yumi started slowly in a fearful sort of way "I--"

"Shh!" he told her "don't call me Ulrich anymore. Someone could hear and we could be arrested. From now on call me Eric. I'm Eric Kern."

"Well _Eric_" Odd started "where do you expect us to go?"

"Well Odd" Eric continued.

"Oh I'm not Odd anymore" he started sarcastically "I'm Joe, Joe Werner."

"Well Joe" Eric started taking him seriously "we're trying to find a place to sleep. So we don't freeze and so we don't get caught by the gruesome guards."

"We can stay at my house" Yumi replied just getting the idea. "I'm sure they've probably searched the whole place upside down by now."

"Good idea Yumi!" Joe yelled without thinking.

"Joe!" Eric yelled in a fake way "Are you crazy? You must be mistaking her for someone else… her name isn't Yumi it's well… what is it?" he asked quieter than before.

"I'm Stephanie" she replied playing along "don't you remember me?" she asked "Stephanie Mills. I swear Eric you have the worst memory. Just in case you forgot I'm your girlfriend as well."

" I couldn't forget that." Eric replied as he went in for a kiss. Eric and Stephanie kissed until Joe interrupted them.

"Um guys." He started shouldn't we get to Yum-" he'd started to slip up but then he caught himself "I mean Stephanie's house?"

"Oh right." Eric answered. Then he laughed nervously at his own mistake. "Lead the way Stephanie, my sweet."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah" Joe continued, it was his turn to be unamused "let's just get to your house…it's starting to rain."

A light rain had started to fall but it soon turned to heavy rain that came down in sheets. The three of them ran to the street that Stephanie's house was on.

"There it is!" Stephanie said as she pointed to it. They all ran for the front door as Stephanie searched through her pockets for her key. "Here it is!" she said as she pushed it into the keyhole.

"I don't think you'll need it" Eric answered as he pushed the door open with no strength at all.

The three of them ran inside and closed the door. It shut with a slight slam. Stephanie's parents always told her not to slam the door, or at least they used to, when they were there at least. Stephanie didn't expect her parents to scold her.

"Who's there?" a gruff voice came from the shadows. "I've already told you more times than I can count my daughter ran off with Ulrich Stern! It's his parents you should be interrogating not us. Besides you already know everything there is to know." An older man came out of the shadows. He had a two-barrel shotgun pointed to where they were standing near the door. He instantly dropped the gun to the ground when he saw them. "Honey!" he called "Get in here please!"

"What is it?" an older woman's voice called "Did you hurt yourself with that dang gun again?"

"You won't believe me if I tell you" the man replied. "Please come in here."

"I'm coming" the woman replied "what is it Takeo?" she asked, "Your shouting will wake the neighbors. They're going to—Oh my lord!" she screamed as she clasped her hands over her mouth. "It can't be!" She continued, "She ran away with that boy years ago!"

"I think it's a mirage sent by X.A.N.A. to haunt us," Takeo told her. He picked up his gun without taking his eyes off of them. Then he cocked the gun and prepared to shoot.

"No wait!" Stephanie called in desperation "it's me… it's Yumi, Yumi Ohrime Ishiyama born April 7 1990!"

"Takeo!" her mother called "Don't shoot! It's my little baby! Come in all of you" her mother continued. "You must be chilled to the bone."

"Jeremy why have we stopped?" Aelita asked when Jeremy had shut off the car, "I thought we were driving to your house." They'd stopped on the corner of a quiet street.

"We are" he replied with ease "but just in case you aren't who you say you are we're walking part of the way. And now that we're in public call me Logan." He opened the door and stepped out. Then he ducked his head back inside "are you coming?" he asked.

She jumped up and opened the door, she unbuckled her seatbelt then she got out of the car.

"I've been thinking" Logan started after they'd been walking for a while "as much as I love your name I think you should change it, for when we're in public. And around my roommate" he muttered he last sentence.

"What should I change it to?" she wondered, she wanted to keep her name as close as she could to the original.

"Well what name do you think suits you?" he asked

"I like Alice" she replied after she'd thought about it for a while "Alice Jarrett."

"Nice to meet you Alice" Logan answered as he held out his hand. She took it and shook it. Then she realized something.

"You still don't believe I'm me do you?" Alice asked.

"Well uh" Logan started trying not to let his face show too much. "No" he continued truthfully.

"How can I prove to you I'm me?" Alice asked, wondering if she really could.

"I'll ask you five questions." Logan started after he'd thought about it. "If you get the first one right we'll move on if not… then I'll know it's not you."

"Alright" Alice answered.

"Question One: Where did you used to run to when you were upset?"

"That's easy." Alice answered without a second thought "the Hermitage."

"Correct!" Logan answered "Question Two: What was your favorite song from my 8-track collection?"

"Oh I forget the name…" Alice started. She started to hum it. Then she started to sing it. "Well it's set way back in the middle of a field… just a funky old shack and I gotta get back…" She trailed off.

"Correct," Logan congratulated "Question Three: What did you love most about Lyoko?"

"Seeing you all when I needed you the most" Alice answered as she remembered meeting Jeremy for the first time.

"Correct," Logan replied "Question Four: When was our first kiss?"

"It was right after X.A.N.A. made polymorphic clones of us… to separate the group. I called you over and then I kissed you and I also knew it was you." Alice answered as she remembered.

"Correct" he answered, surprised she had gotten that far and wondering if the questions were too easy. "Question Five: What was the last thing I asked you before you supposedly came here?"

" You asked me if we could make a compromise…" she started "you said that you would go to the dance with me and to Lyoko if we could be more than friends. Then I asked if you meant like brother and sister or boyfriend and girlfriend. You never answered my question. The next thing I knew I was here with Ulrich Yumi and Odd. And we were running" Then she realized " Ulrich… Yumi… Odd."

"Oh" Logan started in a melancholy voice "We're here" he pointed to the apartment. "This is it."

"It's nice" Alice lied, as she hid her tears for her three friends.

"I've got something that will cheer you up" Logan started, as he knew she would like it. "It's inside" he continued. "Let's go," he added as he grabbed her hand like he had so many times before, when they--- when he was younger. He had to keep reminding himself he wasn't thirteen anymore.

When inside Logan turned on the floor lamp near the front door. When her eyes adjusted Alice saw a single easy chair and a stack of newspapers next to it. There was no TV, no radio, no other lights and above all no computer. The carpet was an ugly orange shag with yellow strands of yarn sewn in. Alice had a hard time keeping her lunch down, after all that was what the carpet looked like, what they had had for lunch that day mixed up then regurgitated after a few hours.

"Are you hungry?" Logan asked as normal as he could for he still wasn't over the shock of seeing her. "I know you're probably not after you've seen the carpet. Just to let you know that wasn't my choice. It was there when I moved in."

" Well actually" Alice lied with a smile "I am kind of hungry."

"All right it's been a while since I was a teenager so what are you hungry for?" he asked normally as if nothing had ever changed.

"You should know me better than that," Alice jokingly answered, "I'm not picky," she added after she saw his face.

"Lasagna sound good?" he asked.

"Sounds great" Alice answered as she licked her lips silently.

" Logan" A young man's voice called "Who's there? Did you finally get a girlfriend like I told you to?" a young man came out of the next room. He had brown hair and green eyes he wore a green striped sweater with a collared shirt sticking out from the neck. He wore jeans and green converse. "Logan" he continued, "Isn't she a little young? If you get in trouble again I'm not getting you out of it."

"I won't get in trouble this time" Logan answered "and how was I supposed to know she was a 15 year old runaway? She looked 20!" He added about the other incident. Alice stood staring at Logan with a strange look on her face, like she didn't and couldn't believe it.

"Well this one looks even younger!" the young man replied as he joked, "You better check her I.D."

" I don't have to" Logan replied back to his roommate like they were playing table tennis, "This is my uh… cousin Alice Jarret."

"I thought your father was an only child" his friend replied.

"Actually" Logan replied, "she's my father's step brother's child and she chose to spend some time here"

"Alright" his friend replied, "Logan you're very "different". Nice to meet you Alice" he added, "I'm Landon, Landon Boylan."

"Nice to meet you Landon" Alice answered. "So are you Jer—I mean Logan's roommate?" she'd almost slipped up and told Logan's roommate his real name.

"Yeah" Landon replied, " I own this apartment. Your cousin rents it from me. Hey Logan are you making dinner?" he asked.

"Yeah." Logan replied, "You want some too?"

"Sure" Landon answered "do you mind if I show Alice around the apartment?"

"No go ahead," Logan answered as he looked into the freezer for any ingredients he could use in the lasagna. Usually Logan was like Jeremy with jealousy issues but he was too busily occupied with his chore to care. "The Lasagna will be ready in about forty minutes."

"Alright" Landon and Alice called, they were halfway across the apartment by then as Landon grabbed Alice's wrist and started to show her the apartment.

Landon started at the front door. "This is the front door" he said like a tour guide "we use it to leave the apartment and to get back in like so." He opened the door and stepped outside then he stepped back inside.

After the door they went to the living room then to the kitchen (where Logan was cooking the lasagna) then to the bathroom.

"This is the bathroom" Landon started as he opened the door. "I don't think I need to demonstrate. At least I hope I don't need to."

"No" Alice replied as she laughed slightly, "I'm fully capable."

After that Landon and Alice walked to the bedrooms.

"The door on the right is my room and the door on the left is your cousin's. If you forget my room is the one with red sheets and your cousin has blue sheets… I think." He opened the door and checked. "Your cousin has blue sheets."

"Hey guys" Logan called from the kitchen " The lasagna's ready! Wash up and get ready to eat."

"Come on" Landon started if we don't get all of the dirt off of our hands "Captain Clean" over there will go crazy."

Alice giggled and then they went to wash their hands and in Alice's case her face.

Once they were all clean they went to the small table in the kitchen. Logan sat in the chair at the end. Alice took the chair next to him and Landon took the chair next to her.

"Alice" Logan started, being polite "How much do you want?"

" Just a small portion" Alice replied. Logan started to dish some lasagna onto her plate. "That's good," she answered when she thought she had enough.

"So Alice" Landon started "how long do you think you'll be staying with us?" he'd started to think of her as a new roomie and she was kind of cute for Logan's cousin.

"I don't know." Alice answered, "How long do you think Logan?" she asked passing the metaphorical baton.

"As long as you need to," Logan answered taking the baton as smoothly as he could. "Or at least until we find a way to get you back."

"Where will she sleep?" Landon asked as he stuffed his mouth with lasagna.

"She can have my bed" Logan replied, without thinking "I'll sleep on the couch"

"I'll have none of that!" Alice objected suddenly, "I'll take the couch and you can have your bed"

"Are you sure?" Logan and Landon asked together as the wad of chewed lasagna fell onto Landon's plate.

"Yeah" Alice answered, getting over the shock of seeing already been chewed lasagna "just get me a blanket and a pillow and I'll be fine."

"Alrighty then" Logan answered glad she had taken charge, he like his bed. "I'll get you a pillow and a blanket after dinner."

"Ha ha Sis" Heroke had teased since the three of them had arrived, "Who's bigger now?"

"You may be bigger" Yumi replied "but I bet you I can still take you… and beat you."

" Honey" her mother asked, "is it really true that you and those three boys you were always hanging around with had been keeping X.A.N.A. at bay?"

"Yes" Yumi answered "but it wasn't just me and the boys Aelita helped too. She was the one who deactivated the towers to stop X.A.N.A. she should get all the credit wherever she is, we only helped."

"I never knew" her mother answered. "We're so proud of you honey" she added "if we'd only known we could have stopped this before it started".

"It's our fault he was freed" Yumi answered. "If we only we hadn't let Aelita get the keys of Lyoko stolen by X.A.N.A's minion, the Schiphizoa."

"Honey" her father started, trying to make her feel better "some things are just meant to happen… Maybe you were meant to fight against X.A.N.A. and maybe you all were meant to defeat him and I think you were meant to come to the future and I think this Aelita girl that you've been talking about was meant to be trapped on Lyoko and she too was meant to play a part in this epic war against this evil machine."

"Thanks Dad" Yumi replied as she smiled even though they were in for dark times. "You've really put it into perspective for me."

The four of them heard the front door open. They quietly sank into the shadows like ghosts. By then for the three of them it was routine. Without a sound they sank into the darkness. Not one of them breathed.

"Where did they go?" Joe asked

"They're probably somewhere in the shadows" Eric replied. Then he called quietly as not to alarm the neighbors "Stephanie? Mr. and Mrs. Mills?"

"Eric!" Yumi Replied as she rushed forward and hugged him. "Did you find Aelita?"

"No we didn't" Joe answered as he wiped sweat from his brow "We don't even know if she was caught or not."

"Well we could just be quieter," her father told her and her friends "the walls have ears." That was code for spies always listen in on conversations.

"Oh I hope she's alright" Yumi started after they'd sat down around the small fire that burned where the dinning room table used to be.

"She'll be fine" Eric told her "she knows what to do if she's attacked. Remember we taught her over the summer?"

"Yes but she was never the fighting type" Yumi answered. "Besides--".

"Shh!" her parents and her brother interrupted quietly. They pointed to the window where a flashlight beam entered the window. "Get into the shadows" her father, commanded the three of them. "You don't want to get caught, you're the only one's who can start and stop this war. Go upstairs. Your mother, Heroke and I won't let them find you there. Quickly! Go!"

"I won't let you down father" Yumi answered. Then Joe, Eric and she walked up the stairs quickly and quietly.

From the bedroom upstairs they could hear everything that went on downstairs.

"Where are the fugitives?" the three of them heard a guard ask.

"What fugitives?" they heard her father reply coldly

"Don't be cheeky citizen" the guard replied. Then they heard what sounded like the butt of a gun hit flesh.

"Takeo!" Her mother screamed as she saw her husband fall to the ground.

"Quiet woman!" the guard yelled as it sounded like he threw her weak body to the ground.

"Hey!" Heroke yelled, "Don't treat my mother that way!"

"Citizens you are all under arrest for harboring fugitives, holding contraband and being smart" the guard replied. "Put out your hands fugitives!"

"No way!" Heroke yelled as he resisted arrest. "Half of those charges are false."

"Put out your hands fugitive!" the guard yelled as it sounded like Heroke was hit to the ground.

"You are all under arrest!" the guard yelled louder "Put out your hands!"

"Make me!" Heroke yelled as the house shook when he jumped to his feet.

"Citizen you think you can take me?" the guard asked as he chuckled slightly, "Don't make me laugh!"

"Bring it on metal head." Heroke yelled as he moved his hand to the guard's metal helmet.

"I don't engage in battle, citizen," the guard answered gruffly. "This is my Tarantualus 5000. Say goodbye to your parents. For this is the last you'll see them."

"Goodbye Mother, Father." Heroke started as he seemed to finally understand "You were the best parents ever. I love you always."

"Hurry up boy!" the guard yelled as he hit Heroke with the butt of the gun.

Heroke seemed to know what was next. He went over to his parents and hugged each of them then he went back to the guard. The guard lowered the gun to Heroke's head.

"Wait" Heroke answered to the gesture "I have one more thing to say… I love my sister wherever she is I wanted her to know that and I wanted to let her know that I have no regrets what so--"

Suddenly there was a noise that sounded like a tarantula shooting its laser on Lyoko. Then the sound of Yumi's mother sobbing and her father trying to comfort her then choking on tears himself.

The three of them were hiding in an upstairs closet. They had all heard the whole conversation from upstairs. Yumi was now leaning against Ulrich, her tears seeping through his coat and shirt. Ulrich had his arms around her and was trying to comfort her without being too loud. Odd sat there stunned. He'd never heard the sounds of someone being murdered before. None of them had.

"You two search the house," the main guard started "while I clean my gun of that citizen filth."

"Yes sir" the other guards replied.

"And you two" the main guard continued "take these two wind bags and put them in lock up."

"Yes sir" the other two replied in perfect synchronization as the sound of their heavy boots started to march up the stairs.

Eric, Yumi and Joe sat as far back as they could in the closet. They hid behind her mother's fur coats.

"Shh!" the three of them told each other as they raised their fingers to their lips.

"Let's check this room" one guard told the other.

Even though they had all told each other to be quiet Yumi couldn't stop sobbing. It wasn't just over her brother either. It was for her parents who were going to be subjected to the lives of criminals, for her friends who were lost, for herself and her two friends who were about to be caught and most of all for anyone who had to live under X.A.N.A's reign.

"Ulrich" Joe started "she had best be quiet right about now."

"What do you suggest I do?" Ulrich asked "Yumi shh." He told her as quietly and as nicely as he could for her to get the message. "Don't let Heroke's sacrifice be in vain."

The closet door opened slightly. Light flooded in. Ulrich's hand instantly went to Yumi's mouth. The three of them were instantly quiet. Not one of them breathed.

After a few seconds the door started to close. Joe, thinking they were in the clear, came out of his hiding place. The door opened quickly and Joe was immersed in total light.

"Hey!" a guard yelled. "There's a boy in here! It looks like one of the wanted kids!"

"Take him with us!" the other guard answered. "You can get money for him and retire early with the tons of euros you'll get"

"Hey!" the first guard realized 'there could be more of them in here" he pulled back the first rack of coats. "Maybe I'll get more money today!"

Ulrich pulled Yumi closer to him. He suddenly felt the wall falling away behind them. He quickly covered Yumi's mouth as the two of them turned over into another room. They were in complete darkness. All Ulrich could feel were Yumi's hands around his neck. All he could hear was the sound of their breath in synchronization. He held her tighter than he ever thought he would ever have to. He didn't want to let her go and she didn't want him to let her go.

Once Ulrich and Yumi heard silence Ulrich spoke "well…we should keep going. We don't want to be discovered."

"What about Odd?" Yumi managed to get out as she hung to Ulrich like a bur.

"We've got to go" Ulrich answered. "We can rescue him later. He can take care of himself."

"Did you not hear Ulrich?!" Yumi asked "the guards are going to take him to X.A.N.A.! X.A.N.A. will kill him!"

"There's nothing we can do now," Ulrich explained with almost no feeling.

They walked down into the tunnel well technically Ulrich dragged Yumi. Ulrich held tight onto Yumi's hand tightly. He didn't want to let her leave his sight. She'd been through enough in the past half hour; he didn't want her to have to lose sight of her boyfriend too.


	7. A Friend Returns

Alice opened her eyes. She saw Logan sitting in front of her. She saw Landon sitting there too. She felt her heart pounding in her chest. She'd had a nightmare.

"What time is it?" she asked nonchalantly trying to act like nothing had happened.

"It's five o'clock in the morning" Logan replied as he rubbed his eyes and smoothed his hair.

"I'm sorry" she answered "I'm just not used to this place and--"

"It's no problem" Landon answered, as instinct, he kind of liked her more and more "I have to get ready to go to work anyway" he got up from his chair and walked to the bathroom. He shut the door.

"Are you alright?" Logan asked once they heard the shower running.

" Yeah" Alice lied as she tried to stop her heart from pounding so loud in her ears.

"What was your nightmare?" he asked hoping she would tell him so he could help her get over it. He remembered when he was younger how she would always have nightmares and he would always wake up to hear her screams.

"I dreamed about that night when you attacked me and we, I mean the four of us, ended up here. It didn't happen the same though. Instead of killing me on Lyoko X.A.N.A. decided to kill me on earth with a gun. You were the one holding the gun to my head. You shot and that was when I woke up." She suddenly started to weep over his shoulder. "It was so scary!" she sobbed incoherently.

"Well" Logan answered, "I have something that just might cheer you up." He got up and went to his room. When he came back he had a toy gnome in his hand.

"Mr. Puck!" Alice gasped as she smiled and took the toy doll and cuddled it like a five year old. "Thank you Logan." She replied, "I thought he was lost."

"After I thought you were gone I went to your room. They were removing your things from your room and I snuck in and took Mr. Puck before they could throw him away." Logan told her as he sat back down in the chair.

"Thank you very much, Logan" Alice answered as she set Mr. Puck on her pillow and hugged Logan.

He smiled and remembered how she'd hugged him so many times before when he was younger. He'd waited so long for something to come, for something special to help to kill X.A.N.A. to remove him from his evil throne of power. He never thought she would hug him again.

"Hey Logan" Landon started as he walked out of the bathroom in his boxers and drying his hair with the towel "I'm going to take the good car today."

"That's alright" Logan answered, "I'm probably not going anywhere today anyway."

Landon walked into his room and got dressed. When he came out of his room he grabbed the car keys and left.

Once Landon left Logan and Alice went back to sleep. Logan dreamed of science and programming and Alice dreamed of her four friends… Odd with his quirkiness, Ulrich with his smoothness, Yumi with her knowledge of everything that came with the years and Jeremy with his supreme knowledge of computers and electronics and his smoothness with girls that never existed.

"What have you been up to?" she heard Jeremy's voice ask as she slept.

"Not much" she heard Ulrich's voice answer but it seemed far away. "We just appeared here when I keyed in the wrong sequence to save your girlfriend from death."

"She's not my girlfriend, she never was, and she never will be even if you do go back to when we were younger. She wouldn't want to go out with me when she can go out with Tyron Anderson." Jeremy told them

"She never wanted to go out with Tyron anyway" Yumi's voice entered in "just like I never wanted to go out with William".

"Wait…" Ulrich started, confused "you never wanted to go out with William?"

"No, I didn't" Yumi answered as it sounded like she kissed him on the lips.

Aelita opened her eyes. She was lying halfway off of the couch. She removed the blankets and walked to the kitchen. She still heard the voices of her friends. It was like they were sitting in the kitchen eating breakfast just talking like normal.

When Aelita reached the doorway to the kitchen she saw the three of them sitting around the small table.

"Why didn't you wake me up?" Aelita asked as she leaned against the edge of the door.

"Well you were just so cute while you slept" Jeremy answered "and it seemed like you needed your sleep."

"So when did you two get here?" Aelita asked

"Early this morning" Ulrich answered "through a tunnel in the bedroom. We nearly scared Jeremy silly."

"Wow!" Aelita answered "Do I smell pancakes?" the smell of soft buttery pancakes had entered her nose when she walked over to the kitchen.

"Yeah" Jeremy answered, "I made them this morning"

Aelita pulled up a chair and sat between Ulrich and Yumi and across from Jeremy. Jeremy handed her the plate and a fork. Once she started to eat she was in heaven. The pancakes were delicious.

"What's happened since we last saw you?" Jeremy asked as he started on his second pancake. He had three left.

"Well" Ulrich started "we've been chased by guards…Uh got new names,".

"Oh we saw my parents" Yumi answered "and my brother." Yumi stopped after she remembered her brother.

"Wow" Jeremy answered as he looked at all of them.

"You three should change your looks." Then seeing the surprise on their faces. " I mean just in case the police show up and search the house. They've done it before. To the people next door to us."

"How will we pull that off without anyone knowing?" Aelita asked.

"Giorgio" Jeremy answered. Then seeing the looks on their faces. "My barber. I've known him for years".

"Let's go then," Ulrich answered as he wiped maple syrup from his upper lip.

"What about Landon?" Aelita asked "Won't he suspect something if I just change my appearance out of the blue?"

"No" Jeremy answered, "we were talking last night and he said you looked like the girl on the posters. He thinks it's a good idea."

"What will we tell him about these three?" she asked "What will he think of them".

"We'll tell him they're our cousins" Jeremy answered off the top of his head.

Ulrich and Yumi looked at the two of them with puzzled looks.

The two of them explained that Landon thought they were cousins and that Aelita's alias was Alice and Jeremy's was Logan.

After breakfast the three of them took showers and then they drove in the car to the salon on the other side of town.

"Who is these people?" a man with a large Italian looking mustache that muffled his voice asked in a thick Italian accent.

"Giorgio" Jeremy started "these are my cousins. They're looking for new styles"

"they look-a like-a the wanted children" the stylist answered.

"That's why they need new styles." Jeremy answered, "the police keep thinking they are the wanted children".

"Well I'll take-a all of them at once" the Italian man answered as he clapped his hands together.

Three women appeared as soon as the man clapped his hands. They each took one of the three to a different room in the large salon.

In the car on the way over the three of them had agreed that the girls would walk to the department store and buy new clothes and then the Jeremy and Ulrich would go. They agreed to show the other three at the same time. They were to meet at the salon in three hours.

They said goodbye to each other as they were ushered to the different rooms.

First they all had their hair washed then one of them got their hair cut and two had it extended and all three of them had it dyed or bleached.

"Wow Yumi" Aelita answered, "your hair looks great".

"So does yours, Aelita" Yumi answered, "I think Jeremy will really love it".

" Well let's go to the store," Aelita answered, "the boy's will be out soon and they'll want to get changed too."

The two of them walked down the street to the department store. The two of them split up and went to find their sizes. They met each other near the changing rooms an hour later.

" We've got to meet Jeremy and Ulrich in an hour" Yumi started as she stared at her watch. "I think the boys are already here so we better hurry up."

The two of them went into the dressing rooms and changed. When they came out in different outfits they hardy recognized each other.

They bought enough outfits to last for a week then they walked back to the salon. They were relieved to still see Jeremy's car still in the parking lot. They put their bags in the back and noticed there were two more bags in the back. They put their bags in the back next to the other ones. Then they walked into the salon.

They noticed a boy and a man sitting in the seats near the doors.

"Is that them?" The first boy asked, a blonde with slightly dark highlights.

"Of course" Jeremy answered.

"Uh… Which one is Stephanie?" the boy asked as he fixed his hair to the best of his ability to make sure it looked good.

"Just pick one" the man answered

"The one in the skirt" the boy started "Stephanie would never wear a skirt".

Eric walked over to the girl in the skirt and tried to plant a kiss on her. He was instantly greeted with a slap.

" Try the other one." The man called.

"Hello Stephanie" Eric said as he got close to her. "You look nice" he put his arms around her waist.

"Ulrich not here!" Stephanie whispered in his ear as she hugged him. "You never know who is watching."

"What's wrong with showing the way I feel about you?" Eric asked

"Come on you two" Logan started as he and Alice stood next to each other a few feet away. "We should get in the car."

" Everybody climb in" Logan said as they all opened a door to the car. Eric sat in the back behind Stephanie and Alice sat next to Eric.

"You all look very different." Jeremy began " In fact when Ulrich walked up to me I thought I was going to be mugged". The four of them laughed as the car turned a corner and then started to sputter. "Oh no!" Jeremy exclaimed " I forgot this car is a piece of junk." He turned the key to the off position and slammed his fist onto the controls. " Well it looks like we'll have to call Landon for a ride back to the apartment."

"Well" Landon began " with my work materials in the back I can only take two people at a time." He looked at the four of them.

"No problem." Logan answered " Just take my cousins and I'll walk from here."

"you sure?" Landon replied " it's kind of a long walk."

" I'm totally sure" Logan explained "I'll tough it out"

"I'll walk with you" Eric answered. "Then Landon only needs to make one trip. He can just take the girls" Eric continued.

" I wanna walk with you guys" Stephanie explained.

"Even better" Logan continued " Landon can take Alice and the shopping bags in one trip."

"Well you heard the man Alice" Landon began "Let's get a move on"

" We'll be back at the apartment shortly." Logan explained to Alice. "Just keep yourself entertained ok, Alice?"

Alice nodded as Landon's car began to speed down the street.


	8. New Problems Arise

"So Alice" Landon began " I really like your new looks. They make you look so much more mature."

"Thank you" Alice answered sensing tension between them. "I just felt like I needed a change. You know?"

" Well I really like it" Landon continued as they parked in the driveway and he got out and shut the door.

Alice got out of the car next. "What about the shopping bags?" she asked.

"Just leave them," Landon explained, his voice taking on a sensual quality as he looked at her. " We'll get them later" he continued.

" Don't you have to go back to work?" Alice asked as she looked at him quizzically.

"Not for another hour" Landon explained "I'm on my lunch break."

"Oh" Alice answered, feeling the awkwardness of the moment. She walked up to the porch and waited for Landon to unlock the door.

Once the two of them were in the house Landon locked the front door.

"Landon what are you doing?" Alice asked "Aren't Logan and the others coming soon?"

"Yes, but I don't want any intruders." Landon explained as he unzipped his pants slowly. "Now, this might hurt." he explained.

Somehow Alice got the impression that he wasn't talking to himself. She ran for the first place she could think of… the place with the most windows and the most light… the kitchen. Landon, sensing her resistance blocked her way and grabbed her around the waist harshly.

"Now don't resist." Landon explained "It won't be as bad if you don't."

"Let me go!" Alice screamed as she flailed like a seizure prone patient in his arms.

Luckily after a few seconds Landon let go and Alice ran for the first safe place she saw… the bathroom. She ran into it and slammed the door and locked it before Landon could open it. She put the first thing she saw in front of the door, which was the chair by the window. She hoped that Landon didn't try to break down the door.

Before Alice knew what was happening she heard Logan's voice booming and she heard the door to the bathroom rattling like someone was trying to open it unsuccessfully. She quickly cowered behind the toilet near the wall. It was a tight fit but it made her feel safe, like no one could touch her or even find her. She was in her own little world. After what seemed like forever it was finally quiet. Suddenly the door started to open; Alice aborted her position behind the toilet and rushed forward to slam the door quickly.

"Aelita it's Yumi!" Yumi explained as she pushed against the door. "We know what Landon tried to do to you!" she explained "Jeremy and Ulrich are taking care of him right now"

"Jeremy knows?" Aelita asked as her head reeled. She wondered what Jeremy thought of her at that moment.

"Yes" Yumi's voice came. "He thinks…"

Aelita didn't hear the rest of Yumi's sentence for she was leaning over the toilet retching out her soul. She felt sick and violated and like she was used and no longer pure.

"Aelita are you alright?" Aelita heard Jeremy ask. She felt more of her soul coming up to leave her violated core. "Look Aelita I promise Landon will never hurt you again… if I had known I would have moved out a long time ago." It sounded like he had sat against the wall on the other side of the toilet.

Aelita finally got up the courage to speak. "I just want things to be the way they used to be yesterday." She heard Jeremy sigh through the wall. "When you were thirteen," she added as she realized yesterday for her was different than his yesterday.

" I sure miss Kadic" Jeremy sighed " back then I had no cares but X.A.N.A. and of course getting you to like me as much as I liked you…" he sighed again "now I've got to worry about paying the bills and where we're all going to stay now that Landon can't be trusted."

"I'm sorry" Aelita answered "it's all my fault… if I hadn't…"

"Don't ever say that it was your fault!" Jeremy answered sternly "If it was anyone's fault it was mine. I said you should ride with Landon… I had no idea he was such a dick. I'm sorry"


End file.
